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Robots Versus Wrestlers
Recap Barney is excited to get the gang to come with him to a grand-scale fighting match called "Robots Versus Wrestlers". Barney had bought a fifth ticket for Robin, despite knowing she had wished to spend time away from them, and indeed she ends up declining. Meanwhile, Ted finds himself continuously snubbed by his friends whenever he tries to appear intellectual, such as by reciting a poem, as his friends always make noises to interrupt him. At the apartment, Barney is introduced to Marissa Heller, who Ted explains was their apartment's previous occupant. Ted has been receiving her mail ever since they had moved in 10 years ago, and over the years, Marshall and Ted had gotten a good idea of what she might be like, although they have no idea what she looks like. In the present, Ted opens another such envelope addressed to her, which is an invitation to a high-society party in the Alberta building, a famous building that Ted describes as the most beautiful in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the party is the same night as Robots Versus Wrestlers, so Ted convinces the gang they'll make a brief appearance at the party before heading over to Robots, having Lily pretend to be Marissa so that they can gain entry to the party. As Lily is about to introduce herself as Marissa to the doorman, the real Marissa arrives, foiling their plan. Ted manages to impress Marissa with his intellectual knowledge, and Marissa agrees to take the group with her up to the party. Ted has a great time at the party, becoming a big hit, while Marshall, Lily, and Barney find it boring and want to leave. Ted decides to stay, leaving Barney hurt, as he, Marshall and Lily head to the Robots event. Marshall thinks Robots Versus Wrestlers is awesome, but Barney is bothered by the fact that their group appears to be growing apart: Robin moving in with Don, Ted leaving them for the party, and Marshall and Lily possibly having a baby soon. Lily assures Barney that, though they might drift apart, they'll still remain friends. Meanwhile, Ted continues to have a good time at the party and begins reciting a poem to everyone there, in the original Italian. As he does so, Ted is amazed no one interrupts him and realizes maybe he has gone too far, and wishes someone would stop him. At that moment, Marshall and the others discover Ted's doppelganger, a Mexican wrestler at the event. Barney sends Ted a picture, who upon seeing it immediately leaves the party. Meanwhile, Barney, Marshall, and Lily are at MacLaren's, where Barney has been making a series of absurd rules they have to follow if Marshall and Lily have their baby. Barney gets up to get a drink, and Marshall asks Lily to seriously consider the possibility of having a baby. Lily points out they won't be able to do as many fun things as before, such as finding Ted's doppelgänger at Robots Versus Wrestlers. They then agree that they won't start trying to have a baby until after they've found the fifth doppelgänger of the group, Barney's. Ted arrives later, where Barney apologizes to him and allows to him to recite another poem. As Ted begins to do so, Robin arrives and interrupts him with a fart noise. As the gang shows her Ted's doppelgänger, Future Ted explains that, although the group grew apart one time or another, they always made sure to get together every year for Robots Versus Wrestlers. Though, they were never seen making the fart noise after this episode, implying they finally accepted the intellectual part of Ted. Continuity *Ted's friends' (and sometimes Ted himself) preference of lowbrow fun over more sophisticated entertainment is a recurring plot point, first seen in ; another example is the opening of . *Ted's highbrow aspirations (and his friends' mocking of same) are also a recurring plot point, such as in . *Robin moves in with Don in Twin Beds, during which he observes how "weird" it is that she hangs out with two ex-boyfriends. *The fourth doppelganger, Mexican Wrestler Ted, appears in this episode. The existence of the doppelgangers was first mentioned in . *Ted mentions the fact that appears in crossword puzzle frequently "because of all the vowels" in , and confirms this after meeting Will Shortz, its editor. *Lily reprises her fake British accent, previously seen in . *In the flashback to the first time Ted and Marshall got mail at the apartment, Ted can be seen in the kitchen with a box labelled "Pot lids", which he uses when moving into Robin's apartment in . *The Alberta building party is thrown by Jefferson Van Smoot, who shares his last name with Lily and Marshall's dream wedding venue (Van Smoot House), mentioned in . *Marshall claims he "would blame that child for the rest of his life" if he had missed seeing Ted's doppelganger while taking care of his child, to which Lily responds "Yes, for the rest of her life." Their disagreement over their preferred sex for their future child was previously referenced in . *Marshall says that he and Lily are "financially stable", implying that they have resolved at least part of the credit-card debt he learns about in , and the expensive home repairs from . *After failing to fool Marisa Heller, Barney flees with "Stinson out". * Barney names several rules for Marshall and Lily's baby. The final rule mentioned is number 83 dealing with baby spit up, suits, and Lily's breasts. Future References (Contains Spoilers) *The gang meets another Van Smoot—George "The Captain", Zoey's husband—in . *Ted is slower to call dibs in . *Barney's obsession with Lily's boobs culminates in . *Marshall and Lily's preferred sex for their child comes up again in . *In , Lily believes that her and Marshall's pact with the universe, to have kids after seeing Barney's doppelganger, is fulfilled when she sees a pretzel vendor who only she thinks looks like him, after which she and Marshall begin trying to start a family, as seen throughout Season 6. Barney's actual doppelganger appears in *Future Ted admits that the gang does "drift apart" in the future. Notably, Robin leaves the gang from 2016 to 2020 ( ) after divorcing Barney in 2016 ( ), only rarely seeing even Lily ( ). *In Last Forever - Part Two, the gang, along with the Mother, attend Robots Versus Wrestlers in 2019. **While Future Ted states that the gang never missed Robots Versus Wrestlers, Robin does not attend it with the gang in 2019 after distancing herself from them in Last Forever - Part One. **Also, Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney are all too busy to go to Robots Versus Wrestlers: Legends with Ted in . That said, Robots Versus Wrestlers: Legends may be affiliated with Robots Versus Wrestlers, while being a distinct event. Gallery Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *In the opening scene Marshall is wearing a Packers green and yellow shirt, but as a Vikings fan Marshall would never make that mistake. *Robin takes Lily's phone call during her broadcast, even though she is described as being a "consummate professional" by Ted, and values being professional even if no one is watching her show. Allusions and Outside References *The Alberta is a parody of , a apartment building with a storied history. *Barney calls Arianna Huffington "Zsa Zsa Gabor". *When Lily picks up the candlestick and states, "Miss Lily in the living room with the candlestick" she is referencing the classic murder-mystery-solving board game of Clue in which players must determine who did it, where, and with what. *Ted quotes from Dante's Inferno in both English and the original Italian. *Marshall mentions that the name's actor sounds like a frog talking to a parrot. *The snooty quartet including Ted is a reference to the film, , as is their choice of song. *Ted recites the poem "Friendship," written by . *Marshall hits a gong, which was supposedly used in 1885 during the premiere of , by and . *Lily mentions in the elevator. *The candlestick that Lily holds supposedly belonged to the poet . *Ted tells Marissa that the architect of the Alberta, Lewis Lamar Skolnick, is one of his favorite architects. Lewis Skolnick and Lamar were both characters in . Music *The Living End - *Tell Me Why - From *One Spring Away - From *We All Belong - Dr. Dog * performed by the Ted Mosby Quartet Other Notes *International Airdates: United Kingdom: October 21, 2010 on E4; India: November 3, 2010 on Star World; Czech Republic: January 10, 2011 on Prima COOL; Germany: February 16, 2011 on ProSieben. *Ted is wearing the same New York Cubans T-Shirt that Don wore in the previous episode . *Mexican Wrestler Ted shouts "¡Yo soy el conquistador de máquinas!" which translates, "I am the conquerer of machines!" *Don is not seen with Robin when she takes Lily's call while on the air, even though he's still co-hosting the show with her at that point. Robin also exhibits the same flippant behavior that Don had previously shown before Robin developed a crush on him by talking with Lily during a show segment and then catching up with the teleprompter as the story wrapped, behavior that had previously disgusted Robin when it was coming from Don. *Although it's not elaborated either way, Jefferson Van Smoot may be related to George Van Smoot, AKA The Captain. Both are wealthy high society men around the same age who are seen hosting or sponsoring sophisticated events, Jefferson hosts the party in the Alberta Building, while George/The Captain is a sponsor for the Goliath National Bank fundraiser at the Natural History Museum in ''Natural History. Guests * - Marissa Heller * - Jefferson Van Smoot * - Himself * - Herself * - Himself * - Jolene * - Waiter *Brea Cola - Hannah *Rebecca Klingler - Marla Reception Donna Bowman of rated the episode with a grade A. http://www.avclub.com/articles/robots-vs-wrestlers,41021/ Amanda Sloane Murray of gave the episode 7.2 out of 10. http://tv.ign.com/articles/108/1088744p1.html Cindy McLennan of rated the episode with a grade C+. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how_i_met_your_mother/robots_vs_wrestlers_1.php References External Links * * * Category:Episodes Category:Season 5